More Food Xenophobia

If food is made by a foreigner, is it still food? Absurdity in the New York Times.

I went to one of my favorite restaurants in New York City last night, Do Hwa, an amazing Korean place co-owned by Quentin Tarantino. I guess it is a good thing that Tarantino wasn't cooking because according to some of the people interviewed in this ridiculous New York Times article "Is the food still Italian if the chef is a foreigner?," it wouldn't be authentic. My god, more food xenophobia. Here are a couple of gems from the article:

Pierluigi Roscioli, a member of the family that runs the restaurant that won the best carbonara award, said there was a risk that tradition would slowly erode if Italian chefs did note oversee those foreign ones who had less training.

"Without supervision, they tend to drift toward what is in their DNA," he said. "When it's by choice, it's great, but not when it happens because someone isn't paying attention."

Wow, our DNA tells us how to cook? The people in this article claim they aren't racist, but what else would you call it? Here is another:

He did well, in part because he made the pizzas bigger but kept the prices low. Now Markhyyeh, 41, presides over an untraditional pizza empire. He has 11 restaurants in Milan, 4 in Jordan, 2 in Cyprus and franchises in Dubai, Beirut, Sharm el Sheik in Egypt and now in Shanghai.

Despite this success — and thousands of loyal Italian customers — he said he has never felt fully accepted. "Italians say they aren't racist, but then they say to me that in Milan, I have found America," he said, referring to a slightly insulting expression for finding success without really working for it. "It makes me feel lousy."

Qunfeng Zhu, 30, a Chinese immigrant who opened a coffee bar in Rome's center, has had a similar experience even though he makes an authentic espresso in a classic Italian atmosphere (overlooking a few bottles of Chinese liquor).

"Some people come in, see we are Chinese and go away," he said.

Of course, we can all see the irony in shunning a person from the country credited with inventing pasta. And carbonara? It was popularized in the United States by American troops returning from Italy, according to Wikipedia. Of course, like most foods its origins are unclear and obscure.

Oriental Garden - Review

Intro
Oriental Garden - Recommended
14 Elizabeth St, New York 10013
Btwn Canal St and Bayard St
Phone: 212-619-0085

Haven't had Dim Sum in a while, so we stopped by Oriental Garden in Chinatown. Still the best in the city in my opinion. Overall, I give the restaurant a 78/100.

My Menu

1) Shrimp and Pork Dumpling (Siu Mai) **
2) Seared Garlic Chive Round Dumpling ***
3) Sticky Rice (Law Mai Fan)
4) Seared Round Doughy Pork Dumpling (Sen Jian Bow)
5) Long Rice Noodle Dumpling and Shrimp (Cheong Fun) *
6) Garlic Chive Dumpling **
7) Chicken Feet (Fung Jiao) *

* Good
** Great
*** What the F – in a good way

Dish Comments
1) My favorite dim sum item since I was a wee lad has always been siu mai. These are great here. Juicy, a nice porky flavor, and a nice thin delicate skin. Just writing about it makes me want to eat some right now.
2) A big what the f moment as this brought me back to my childhood as well as back to my trips to Taiwan. Impossibly thin tender skin, super crisp exterior, and an explosion garlic chive and shrimp.
3) Ok dish, but nothing to write home about. My keys to law mai fan are rich mushroom/pork flavor that should be warm, chewy and slightly juicy. Didn't get any of that here...
4) As soon as I saw these dumplings, I needed to order them since they were one of my favorite things in Taiwan. Unfortunately, the skin was way to thick and doughy and the filling was barely there. If I never visited Taiwan, these would be OK...
5) Tasty, but not great. The long rice noodles don't have the best texture - noodles all clung to each other, but overall the flavors are still good. My perfect cheong fun would have soft, delicate skin that fall apart easily in the mouth. Not here.
6) Another great garlic chive dumpling, but with a slightly thicker skin then the other garlic chive dumplings. Still very delicate and I'm pretty sure the same filling...great stuff.
7) This dish usually scares most people, but it's actually quite delicious. You only eat the skin and gelatin and discard the bones of the chicken feet. The skin here is tender and has good flavor.

Overall Restaurant Experience (78/100)

• Food 8.0/10 – In my opine, the best dim sum in NYC. Still not quite as good as the dim sum from Flushing and NJ (e.g. 1 9 Seafood Restaurant)
  
• Service 6.5/10 – Like most Chinese restaurants, the service was pretty bad. All of the waiters have attitude. Also, the dim sum does not come out that much - you basically need to ask the waiter to order it.
• Atmosphere 7.5/10 – Small place (like 20 tables), so unless you go with 8 people you're definitely sitting with others. I don't mind so much as it's funny looking at people watch in disgust as you eat chicken feet. Place looks like the standard Chinese joint, white circular tables and the standard dragon on the wall. Bathroom is surprisingly neat as most Chinatown bathrooms looks like a port-a-potty at lollapalooza. We got there at 11:45am on Saturday and were seated immediately - it was packed by 12pm. Crowd was mainly non-Chinese and consisted of large groups.
• Price 8.0/10 – Great price. $28 for the total meal and we were stuffed. Still a little costly for Chinatown dim sum, but totally worth it.

Closing Comments
I so wanted to rock out pictures, but this was a random meal so didn't get to bring the camera. My next investment for the blog will be a phone with a very good flash camera. Definitely the best place I've found in Chinatown for dim sum. Oh ya, afterwards we went to Chinatown Ice Cream Factory for a scoop of Green Tea and Taro Ice Cream...spectacular stuff.

AIWF Champagne Gala 2008

Yamazaki - Kai Restaurant

Chef's Own Words Series

Smith

I met up my friend A at Smith on 10th and 3rd the other day.
Smith is simply classified as your neighborhood eatery.
We got grilled chicken sandwiches with avocados, tomatoes, chipotle mayo on a Balthazar's sourdough bread and thin fries.
Not bad.

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Family Restaurants

Is the convenience worth the price?
After taking some time to really think about it, these corporate eateries may not be any better than the big tobacco companies we've all been taught to hate.

As I was driving back from New England thursday night, I counted 10 different corporate restaurant chains strategically planted at rest stops and highway exit ramps. They all had colorful signs luring commuters to their lares.
Now perhaps I've become a little more skeptical in my old age, but for every publicly announced action, there seems to be an insincere anticipated opposite reaction.
Many of these chains paint a homey, comfortable and healthy alternative to dining. When in fact, the chairs and booths are designed to be uncomfortable after 30 minutes, the thermostat is set 5 degrees colder than your living room, and the food in the kitchen most likely wouldn't pass 50% of the health inspector's regulations.
Not to mention, the meats and produce contracts go to the lowest bidder (farmers), which mean they rely on science to grow the tomatoes for the garden salad in december and the bigger and whiter chicken breasts for your chicken sandwich.

One can easily make the argument, it's amazingly convenient, and after meetings through out the day, and hundreds of miles in the car, you get to sit down and are served a drink, an app, a warm entree and dessert, all for under 25 bucks. There are probably hundreds of thousands of people living this scenario everyday.
Corporate America is manipulating us, guys!

Your average Joe...
"Well, big companies wouldn't dare serve us unhealthy food right?" "Its dangerous and more importantly, unethical".

Which brings me to my final point, can we afford to just take their word for it, or do we do something about it and demand better.

We all need to spend a little more time in the kitchen and learn the basics to cooking.
If we all have the basics hunkered down, chain restaurants have no choice but to up their game and serve us better food than the junk they are currently right now.

Together, we can harness change.


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Kitchen Basics - Chicken Stock

One of my quests for the longest time was to find a good chicken stock that comes in a tiny container. Most of the chicken stocks that I've purchased in the past are bland (e.g. Pacific Natural Foods) or come in large 14-32 oz containers. I've finally found the answer at my local A&P - Kitchen Basics - 8 Fl Oz Chicken Stock. This broth is insanely flavorful - nice deep rich chicken flavor. Obviously this probably has to do with the sodium content, but after salting other store brought brands you still don't get this type of flavor. Also, the 8 fl oz package is perfect since the majority of the time I end up throwing away half of the chicken stock that come in the 14 fl oz package. Making chicken stock is very satisfying, but if you don't have time, the Kitchen Basics Chicken Stock is a perfect fit. A tad more expensive at $1.50 per box, but 100% worth it...

ad-ons

I totally agree with Aramis on this product endorsement.
For the price and quality, you really can't beat it.

One thing I wanted to highlight was the packaging of this product.
You've probably seen this many many times through various other products as well.
(Tofu, Tomato Sauce, Soy Milk, and even Milk...)
I'm talking about the "Tetra-Pak" container
This is a proprietary technology owned and managed by a Swedish firm specializing in sanitary packaging for foods.
Where most vacuum packs can only claim "pasteurization", that only eliminates up to 80% of the germs.
Tetra-Pak technology is "aseptic", which means it's sterile, 99.99% germ free.
This means it's shelf stable indefinitely.

And that is pretty awesome.

Kunjip Restaurant - Review

Intro
Kunjip Restaurant - Recommended
9W 32nd St, New York 10001
Btwn 5th Ave and Broadway
Phone: 212-216-9487

Randomly checked out Kunjip since me and the fiancee had to rock out our registry at Macy's. Ended up with Kunjip since we wanted to try a new restaurant and Kunjip was brimming with people - all others were completely empty. Verdict - a complete what the f moment with the phenomenal kimchee chigae...definitely the best I've ever had. I've always felt that restaurants in the Korean district were always pretty average and overpriced. This place definitely breaks the mold. Overall, I give the restaurant an 83/100.

My Menu

1) Vegetable Bimbimbop :(
2) Kimchee Chigae ***

:( What the F - in a bad way
* Good
** Great
*** What the F – in a good way

Dish Comments
1) A pretty subpar bimbimbop. Not very flavorful even after adding lots of spicy sauce. The fiancee assumed this s because the lack of egg, meat, and toasted rice since this wasn't cooked in the stone pot.
2) Kimchee chigae is basically a spicy stew consisting of kimchee and pork. Usually, the pork is lacking in quantity or super dry - the cut served is generally the tenderloin. Not so here my friends. First, the broth is soooo flavorful - deep, rich, spicy. Kimchee is perfectly tender and then the ridiculously awesome pork. Basically they use pork belly, which makes the pork so f'n tender and flavorful.

Overall Restaurant Experience (83/100)

• Food 8.3/10 – Phenomenal Kimchee Chigae dish. Can't wait to try other dishes there.
  
• Service 7.3/10 – Service is OK. Food comes out in a decent amount of time, but servers aren't necessarily nice unless you speak Korean - we do not.
  
• Atmosphere 7.5/10 – Looks like most other Korean restaurants on 32nd street. Wood tables and walls. Crowd consisted of only Koreans (families and groups). Got there at 12pm on a Sunday for 2 people with no reservations and was seated promptly. 15 minutes later the place was packed and probably was at least a 20 minute wait.
  
• Price 8.0/10 – Price was so worth the Kimchee Chigae dish - $10. However, the other dishes seem pricier - $15-20.
  

Closing Comments
Definitely recommended for the Kimchee Chigae dish and I am 100% going back. Other dishes maybe suspect though based on the subpar bimbimbop.

S'Mac That

Took a wild stab at the east village eatery "s'mac" last night.
A friend from out of town was visiting and requested so mac and cheese.
At s'mac, you have around 10 different mac and cheese choices to pick from. Then there is the size of the skillet.
Reasonably priced and fair quality food.
It's the perfect college kid's "escape from dorm food" place.

The pic is of the "Cuban". Generous chunks of chorizo and some roasted cuban peppers mixed into the cheesy mess.
The macaroni elbows were perfectly al dente for your information.

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Pernil Asado

I had a great roasted pork dish with white rice and black beans the other day, at this colorful cuban restaurant near Tisserie in Union Square. I suspect they laddled extra pork fat onto the rice because it was glistening and tasted great.
I give this dish a 9 due to the fact it was 12 bucks for a heaping portion and tasted fantastic. The pork was perfectly cooked.

My 2 megapix cam/phone isn't doing the dish justice. Dudes, we gotta go!
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Bad Mozz...

Dioxin found in some Italy mozzarella

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press WriterFri Mar 21, 1:17 PM ET

Makers of Italy's prized buffalo mozzarella took out full-page ads in Italian newspapers Friday assuring consumers the cheese was safe after high levels of dioxin were found in some samples of buffalo milk.

The tainted products came from a few buffalo dairies in the southern Campania region, whose reputation as a top agricultural producer already has been tarnished by the months-old garbage crisis that has fueled fears of food contamination.

Dioxin, a chemical environmental pollutant, can be hazardous even in small amounts. When it accumulates in the body, it can be linked to cancer, birth defects and organ failure.

Over the past week, Italian authorities have searched dozens of buffalo dairies and seized milk samples for tests after higher-than-permitted levels of dioxin were discovered in products from 29 mozzarella makers, news reports said.

Prosecutors in Naples have placed 109 people under investigation in connection with the probe, on suspicion of fraud and food poisoning, the ANSA news agency reported.

On Friday, the consortium of buffalo mozzarella makers in Campania took out full-page ads in Corriere della Sera and other national newspapers outlining the system of controls that are in place for its top-branded mozzarella, which carries the designation DOP, meaning it has certain protection and quality guarantees.

Health officials, police, agricultural and cheese authorities all guarantee the safe production of DOP mozzarella, the ad said, adding that the dairies involved in the police seizures were not members of the consortium.

"Considering these norms, buffalo milk — before being transformed — is placed under the most stringent health and chemical controls which guarantee the safety and quality of Campania's DOP buffalo mozzarella," the ad said.

The Italian agricultural lobby Coldiretti called for a speedy investigation to determine which dairies were to blame, since buffalo mozzarella is such an important brand domestically and internationally.

The soft and subtly flavored mozzarella is a key ingredient in pizza, but also is eaten uncooked, often alongside prosciutto or with sliced tomatoes and basil.

Coldiretti said 33,000 tons, worth $462.69 million, of DOP mozzarella is produced annually, employing some 20,000 people. Most DOP mozzarella is consumed in Italy, but 16 percent is exported, mostly to European countries but also to Japan and Russia, Coldiretti said.

It was not clear what, if any, role Campania's garbage crisis has had in the mozzarella contamination. However, earlier this year Naples health authorities began screening residents for dioxin contamination amid accusations that toxic garbage was being dumped illegally by the mafia-controlled garbage industry in the area.

Naples and its surrounding area have been plagued by garbage crises over the past dozen years. Dumps close after filling up, and residents — afraid that toxic garbage is being dumped — block efforts to open new ones.

A recent study by the World Health Organization found that people living in Campania were not as healthy as residents in the rest of Italy. Mortality rates, particularly from some forms of cancer, are higher in the areas around Naples where the garbage crisis peaked.

Still, Renato Pizzuti, a regional epidemiologist, said a direct link to garbage contamination cannot be made.

"For sure, the population of the Campania region is suffering from some negative health factors, both in terms of mortality, above all, and for some pathologies in terms of morbidity." But in a recent interview with AP Television News, he stressed, "This cannot be directly linked to garbage."

Michael Romano - Union Square Cafe

Chef's Own Words Series

Can't get enough !!!

J.G. Melon - Revisited
And it still kicks ass...!

Our group of 5 (dudes) got together for a little eating session this past week.
At one of Manhattan's most famous burger eateries. JG Melon.
The first time I was there, I came out quite happy and I told (blogged) all my friends about it.
Time and time again, this place delivers and never disappoints.



















At first glance, the bill is a little startling. After all, what did we just eat...
Burgers, Chili and some Beers... But the satisfaction level shoots off the charts and ultimately, the bill is just a monetary set back. You can't put a price on sheer delight.











I'm happy to pony up $35 for a deeply satisfying meal.

Pitano Gelato - Review

Intro
Pitango Gelato - Highly Recommended
802 S Broadway, Baltimore, Maryland (410) 702-5828
Phone: 410-702-5828

The final review of our mini Baltimore trip and as some of you faithful readers know by now, I looooooove gelato. So, wherever I see gelato, I must try it. Being the Italian food snob, I really don't expect much from any gelato unless it's in Italy. Pitango's gelato in the Fell's Point area was a spectacular surprise - better than one of my favorites in NYC, Bruno Bakery in the West Village. Gelato is all about intensity of flavors and the super creamy texture. They nail it perfectly here and one up Bruno as I feel the gelato's at Bruno are too sweet. Any who, if you're ever around the area you must try. Oh ya, gelato's are $4.50 for 2 good size portions...killer deal.

My Menu
1) Coconut Gelato **
2) Chocolate Hazlenut Gelato (Gianduja) **

* Good
** Great
*** What the F (in a good way)

1) Never had Coconut gelato, but they do it perfectly here. You really get the great coconut flavor that's pleasantly sweet, instead of crazy sweet.
2) I love Gianduja and this is a great representation of it. Rich chocolate flavor enhanced by a super nutty flavor of hazlenut.

John Steven Ltd - Review

Intro
John Steven Ltd - Recommended
1800 Thames St, Baltimore, Maryland 21231
Phone: 410-327-5561

Since I was in Baltimore this past weekend, I wanted to find out what the big deal about Maryland crab cake was. I've always heard about the wonders of this dish, but never really experienced a great Maryland crab cake. We asked a bunch of people at the rehearsal dinner and everyone brought up the same name - John Stevens. They are 100% correct, maybe the best crab cake I've ever had. Overall, I give the restaurant an 79/100.

My Menu
1) Crab Soup
2) Scallops :(
3) Crab Cake Entree **

:( What the F - in a bad way
* Good
** Great
*** What the F - in a good way

Dish Comments
1) Basically a minestrone with crab. Tomato based soup with corn and peas and a very tiny amount of crab. Soup was OK, but I wouldn't order it again.
2) I love scallops and I would say avoid these at all costs. It's broiled in butter, but there's absolutely no flavor to it. Scallops should be slightly sweet, but these taste like nothing.
3) Great crab cakes here - nice and juicy. The meat is lump so it's in bigger pieces and you really taste great crab flavor in every bite. The crust on the crab cake is light, but because it has a nice sear in butter the flavors are explosive. The sides of fries are good, but the slaw is flavorless though. The carrots are ok, but undercooked in my opine.

Overall Restaurant Experience (83/100)

• Food 7.8/10 – The dishes that we had we're pretty average to subpar, but the crab cakes were spectacular.
• Service 8.5/10 – The waitress was incredibly nice and was eager to help us in ordering the food. Food came out pretty quick. She was looking at me seasoning the scallops and came over right away and asked how things were.
  
• Atmosphere 8.5/10 – I love eating at bars and this was great. Not crowded at all and just a great atmosphere. Crowd consisted of older couples, families, and groups of dudes at the bar. Got there at 1pm on a Saturday and were seated immediately.
• Price 7.5/10 – Price of crab cakes were on the high end ($24) for lunch, but it was 100% worth it. All other dishes were moderately priced.

Closing Comments
This experience reminded me of Tadich Grill in San Francisco - one phenomenal dish (crab cakes), but everything else was OK to sub par. But, like Tadich Grill I will 100% come back anytime I'm in Baltimore to John Steven Ltd just for the crab cakes...

The Best Popeye's....

The Best Popeye's....I've ever had was this weekend while heading down to Baltimore for a wedding. Porthos has always raved about the Popeye's at the Thomas Edison rest stop on the NJ turnpike (exit 11 southbound). Man, he was so right. The meat is so insanely juicy and flavorful. The crust is crispy, but still relatively light. This is the Cadillac of fast food fried chicken. We think this is due to the high turnover rate at the rest stop, so they don't have much time to sit. Whatever it is, it f'n rules...check it out sometime. And, bypass the corn...it was completely flavorless.

BTW - Bigus Edicus has let us know the original creator of Popeyes has past away, so pay your respects and rock out some Popeyes...

Pizza and Pasta Prices

Ok, so I've previously blogged about the issue of ethanol affecting food prices. Here's a potential opportunity cost of planting more corn to produce more ethanol - rising wheat costs, which will definitely affect our cost for a slice of pizza and pasta. This article documents a NY pizzaiolo's price for a bag of flour that went from $16 a bag to $37 a bag in only 4 weeks. Can't wait to see what Del Posto will charge for a plate of pasta in order to make a profit now...say hello to $40 a plate :P

Berger's Cookies

Reffering to this posting from a couple weeks ago, my cousin in Spain sent me some Iberico Jamon for my birthday. I had to reciprocate and send her something that she wants for her birthday, which is in a couple days. She told me her roommate is from the Baltimore area and introduced her to cookies that will cure any chocoholic's craving - but she didn't remember the name. She stated these cookies are made in Baltimore and are only available in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area. I Googled around, found what I thought she was talking about, and she confirmed. Like a good cousin, I picked up several boxes of these and sent them to her in Spain. Of course, I had to see what they were all about. Introducing, Berger's Cookies.


Do a Google search yourself, and you will not see a bad thing about these but the opposite instead. And yeah, if you like chocolate, then you will definitely like these cookies. My gosh these cookies are rich. I peeled the shrink-wrapping back on my drive home from one of the few places I found that sold these cookies. I wish I knew what I was in for and bought some cold skim milk, because these are overwhelming. I could only put down 2 and a part of a third. (As good as whole milk is, it still would have been too much with these cookies IMO.)

A couple days later, I tried them again; this time I was prepared with said milk. First off, there's barely any cookie. It's essentially chocolate. And yeah, if you look inside of it, you'll see a cookie in there. Yeah, these are quite tasty. A different cousin and his wife were visiting me from Miami and then driving back. I picked up a couple boxes of these for them, and they were very happy. I think you will be as well if you try these and even moreso if you like chocolate. If you're not in the area, you can order them to ship to you from their website.


Here's a tip - break some cookies in half and let them sit out for a few days. When you bite into them, you'll still have the soft chocolate topping, but you'll have the crispiness of the cookie to give it extra texture. I found this on accident when a.) I only ate half a cookie and b.) I returned a few days later for the other half, since I didn't want to make it a habit-turn-addiction of eating these cookies.

Le Bernardin Review

Intro
Le Bernardin- Recommended
51st St, New York 10014
Btwn 6^th Ave and 7^th Ave
Phone: 212-741-4695

The fiancée took me out to Le Bernardin for my birthday – completing my journey of old school NY Times 4 star restaurants (Daniel, Jean Georges, Bouley being the others). Usually, I would have had a ridiculous amount of anticipation for this restaurant, but I’ve been so swamped at work that I didn’t have much time to think about it. Still, even without the high expectations for the meal, the restaurant was a bit of a disappointment. I still had a great time and was blown away by many a dish, but as you'll read later something drags the overall review down. Overall, I give the restaurant an 87/100.

My Menu
Chef’s Tasting Menu

1) Amuse – New England Clam Chowder (not on menu) **
2) Fluke *
White Soy-Yuzu Marinated Fluke; Seaweed Spiced “Rice Crispies”
3) Calamari ***
Sautéed Calamari Filled with Sweet Prawns and Wood Ear Mushroom, Calamari Consomme
4) Spiny Lobster ***
Warm Lobster Carpaccio; Young Ginger-Matsutake Mushroom Salad; Vanilla-Citrus Oil
5) Wild Salmon *
Barely Cooked Wild Alaskan Salmon; Daikon and Enoki Salad; Baby Leek-Wasabi Sauce
6) Dover Sole **
Dover Sole; Shiso-Matsutake Salad; Lemon-Miso Broth
7) Escolar ***
White Tuna Poached in Extra Virgin Olive Oil; Sea Beans and Potato Crisps; Light Red Wine Bearnaise
8) Cheeses – Avoid!!!
9) Greengage Plum *
Caramelized Greengage Plums, Rhubarb Compote, Blood Orange Cream, Creme Fraiche Sorbet
10) Warm Chocolate – Avoid!!!
Warm Amedi Chuao chocolate, Malted Rum Milk Chocolate Ice Cream
11) (not on menu) Mango Cake **
12) (not on menu) Chocolate Pot De Creme **

I’m gonna rock out a new rating system alla Porthos, so this is my scale

* Good
** Great
*** What the F – in a good way

Dish Comments
1) A nice play on New England clam chowder. Great broth, tender lobster, and perfectly cooked potatoes. Great way to start the meal.
2) Nice delicate preparation of the fluke. The fish had great texture and was slightly sweet – nice contrast with the bright yuzu. This dish is a bit of a letdown, but I think any raw fish preparation will always make me compare it to Sushi Yasuda…nothing outside of Japan will top that in my opine.
3) My first what the f moment of the night that said you are at Le Bernardin. The body of the calamari was incredibly tender, sweet and filled with even sweeter prawns that had a shredded texture. The tentacles were lightly battered and fried to perfection - the best fried calamari I've had.
4) Don’t know how, but this dish was much better than the calamari. The best lobster dish I’ve ever had. Very sweet lobster meat that had the perfect texture. The vanilla-citrus oil, ginger, and mushrooms made the meat seem even sweeter – a phenomenal combination. Raw mushrooms tasted great combined with everything else and I never thought I'd be so happy eating raw mushrooms at a crazy expensive place.
5) Salmon that was only warmed through on one side and served with raw garlic chives and raw snow pea shoots – very Chinese ingredients. Good stuff, but a bit of a letdown after the previous homerun. Texture was great and the flavor was nice. The raw chives and snow pea shoots had a slightly spicy, sweet thing going on.
6) Perfectly cooked Dover Sole with a super intense miso and mushroom broth. Great flavors and texture.
7) This was a complete shock to me. Again, another what the f moment as I was contemplating why everything isn’t poached in olive oil. Taking a nice rich piece of tuna and making it even richer by poaching it in olive oil was brilliant. Combine that with the light and flavorful red wine béarnaise (first for me) and probably the best potato chip I’ve ever had…this may have been the winner of the night.
8) Cheeses were pretty disappointing. The cheeses were a goat, some tuscan cheese, cheddar, and a blue. Goat and the tuscan cheese were average and not worth describing. The cheddar was great and the blue was ok. Surprising that the cheese were overall average for a place like this.
9) Seared plum from New Zealand that supposedly is only available 1 month out of the entire year (I guess kinda like the Macanaw peaches for you Seinfeld heads). The plum by itself is slightly sweet and has a great texture, but it’s pretty tasty combined with the great blood orange cream and the amazing crème fraiche sorbet.
10) This dish totally brought me back down to Earth. Chocolate soufflé was way to dense and heavy and it didn’t even soufflé really. The tops were cracked and the soufflé was totally deflated. Flavors were OK, but this was just a shock that a restaurant this caliber would serve a deflated soufflé. A what the f in a bad way.
11) For my birthday cake, they made an amazing mango cake that was insanely light and fluffy – kinda like a Chinese cake. The cream inside the cake exploded with fruit flavor and the sorbet on top added a nice tartness – I believe it was passion fruit. A big comeback after the bad chocolate souffle.
12) Final dish was the chocolate pot de crème in the egg shell. Good to finish with a homerun. The fluffed up cream on top was so airy and light. The chocolate underneath was perfect and the slight topping of maple syrup was such a pleasant surprise.

Overall Restaurant Experience (87/100)

• Food 9.0/10 – They truly are masters here and some of the dishes here I don’t think you can get anywhere else in the US. The food is beautifully presented and smells phenomenal. Almost every single dish has sauce that is poured by the server...kinda funny. Scores would have been higher were it not for the bad cheese and dessert plates.
  
• Service 7.5/10 – Ok, so for a 4 star NY Times restaurant that is 400+, the service here is bad…at least in my opine. When we sat, it took 10 minutes before anyone gave us a menu – and we had to flag someone down to get it. Then, the sommelier took another 15 minutes to show up to our table and was very difficult to get a hold of all night (there were 3-4 sommeliers there too). These things are unacceptable at a place like this. When I spend this much money, I expect to be treated like the other 4 star restaurants in the city (e.g. Daniel and Jean Georges). Another nitpicky thing – they didn’t clean the crumbs on the table that frequently. Only 2x during the 12 courses…don’t mean to be picky, but again at Daniel and other places they’ll do that after every course. Also, the fiancée asked the reservationists to do a cake for my birthday. They didn’t until she asked them towards the end of the bill – they forgot. The redeeming factor is the food does come out at a good pace and our waiter was extremely nice. He seemed to really know his food and was proud to describe the dishes and ask how the food was. Also, the sommelier we had was a true master. The wines that he recommended were phenomenal and I don’t think I’ve ever had a better wine pairing with food…ever.
• Atmosphere 7.5/10 – Very stuffy place packed with the super rich. Place had the Japanese look with the blond wood with huge paintings on the wall. Crowds consisted of families, older couples, and large groups that get very loud. Tables were way too close to each other and we could overhear everyone’s conversation. Funny one – couple with their 14 year old son there and he was asking why they don’t get regular water instead of bottled water. Rich lady said because that would ruin the meal, you don’t want to be like one of those people. Ha! Definitely not my type of crowd or place. The fiancee booked the restaurant 1 month in advance. Got there at 7pm on Thursday and was seated promptly.
• Price 7.0/10 – Ok. For the food the price I think is completely worth it. Again, you’re getting the quality of food that you can’t get at most other restaurants. However, the service completely dragged things down and I 100% do not think it’s worth the price overall. About $600 for 2 including 8+ glasses of wine.

Closing Comments
Amazing food, but the overall experience was not of a 4 star restaurant. Out of all the restaurants I’ve been to in NY only Daniel and Jean Georges are deserving of the 4 star distinction. Bouley is 0 stars in my opinion. Le Bernardin would be a 3 star for me. That said, I would definitely come back for the 4 course $107 tasting menu – the same items on the chef’s tasting was available on the 4 course menu. When you spend less money, you go with less expectations, so the service would not bother me as much next time.